Do therapists lead perfect lives?

July 14th, 2019

“I bet it is nice being married to a therapist.” The young newlywed shook her head near the end of a particularly emotional counseling session. “I can barely function, I struggle with every decision, and it seems like I mess up everything I touch. But you’re so calm and seem to always know the right thing to say…”

It’s not the first time I’ve had someone say something like that, and it probably won’t be the last. People come to counselors for many different reasons, but it’s usually because something in their lives just isn’t right. They share their feelings, their fears, and their dreams with a counselor who listens intently, asks questions, and sometimes offers insight. Often it’s something they had never considered and it makes perfect sense, so it’s no surprise they think their counselor has “it all together.”

Well, I’ll let you in on a secret: counselors don’t lead perfect lives, at least not the ones at Care to Change. We’re just like everyone else, facing problems and challenges and days that just don’t go well. We get stressed, sometimes we get angry, sometimes we even say things we wish we didn’t. We have days when we feel like inadequate parents, or when our relationships with our spouses aren’t exactly picture perfect. There are days when we’d like to pack a bag and run away to some desert island. So are we perfect? Not even close.

But that is partly what actually what makes us better therapists, because we understand frustration, anger, sadness, and even pain. We too have had personal experiences we’d never want to relive and we’ve said things to loved ones we wish we could take back as well. So when you share what’s happening in your life, we can relate, even though we’re taught not to share too much about it. Our own struggles may have been different, but we recognize that frustration is frustration, and pain is pain. The challenges we’ve overcome, along with the accompanying emotions we’ve felt allow us to be more empathetic with the people we help. Sessions are about you, and we listen intently so that we can guide you to insight, offer meaningful counsel and give you hope that you can make change you want to see in your life.

We definitely don’t lead perfect lives. We don’t have a box of magic solutions. We don’t even say the right thing in every situation. But we’re here to help. We’re here to use the methods that have been proven effective, along with timeless truths found in scripture, and we’re here to use our experience to help you get from where you are to where you want to be. You’re doing brave work, and while we don’t lead perfect lives and we’re not perfect people, we are here for you, each step of the way. Why not make an appointmentwith one of our professional counselors?